1902 essay collection by Peter Kropotkin
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
The cover of the 1902 edition of
Mutual Aid
|
Author
| Peter Kropotkin
|
---|
Language
| English
|
---|
Subject
| mutual aid
|
---|
Published
| 1902
|
---|
Publisher
| McClure Phillips & Co.
|
---|
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
is a 1902 collection of anthropological essays by Russian
naturalist
and
anarchist
philosopher
Peter Kropotkin
. The essays, initially published in the English periodical
The Nineteenth Century
between 1890 and 1896,
[1]
explore the role of mutually beneficial
cooperation
and
reciprocity
(or "
mutual aid
") in the animal kingdom and human societies both past and present. It is an argument against theories of
social Darwinism
that emphasize competition and
survival of the fittest
, and against the romantic depictions by writers such as
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
, who thought that cooperation was motivated by universal love. Instead, Kropotkin argues that mutual aid has pragmatic advantages for the survival of human and animal communities and, along with the
conscience
, has been promoted through natural selection.
Mutual Aid
is considered a fundamental text in
anarchist communism
.
[2]
It presents a scientific basis for communism as an alternative to the
historical materialism
of the
Marxists
. Kropotkin considers the importance of mutual aid for prosperity and survival in the animal kingdom, in indigenous and early European societies, in the medieval
free cities
(especially through the
guilds
), and in the late 19th century village, labor movement, and impoverished people. He criticizes the
State
for destroying historically important mutual aid institutions, particularly through the imposition of
private property
.
Many biologists
[3]
[4]
(including
Stephen Jay Gould
, one of the most influential evolutionary biologists of his generation) also consider it an important catalyst in the scientific study of cooperation.
[5]
Reception
[
edit
]
Daniel P. Todes, in his account of Russian naturalism in the 19th century, concludes that Kropotkin's work "cannot be dismissed as the idiosyncratic product of an anarchist dabbling in biology" and that his views "were but one expression of a broad current in Russian evolutionary thought that pre-dated, indeed encouraged, his work on the subject and was by no means confined to leftist thinkers."
[6]
Kropotkin emphasizes the distinction between competitive struggle between individual organisms over limited resources and collective struggle between organisms and the environment. He drew from his firsthand observations of
Siberia
and
Northeast Asia
, where he saw that animal populations were limited not by food sources, which were abundant, but rather by harsh weather. For example, predatory birds may compete by stealing food from one another while
migratory birds
cooperate in order to survive harsh winters by traveling long distances. He did not deny the competitive form of struggle but argued that the cooperative counterpart has been under-emphasized: "There is an immense amount of warfare and extermination going on amidst various species; there is, at the same time, as much, or perhaps even more, of mutual support, mutual aid, and mutual defense... Sociability is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle."
[7]
As a description of biology, Kropotkin's perspective is consistent with contemporary understanding.
Stephen Jay Gould
admired Kropotkin's observations, noting that cooperation, if it increases individual survival, is not ruled out by
natural selection
, and is in fact encouraged.
[3]
Kropotkin's ideas anticipate the now recognized importance of
mutualism
(a beneficial relationship between two different species) and
altruism
(when one member of a species aids another) in biology. Examples of altruism in animals include
kin selection
and
reciprocal altruism
. Douglas H. Boucher places Kropotkin's book as a precursor to the development of the biological theory of altruism.
[4]
Editions
[
edit
]
- Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
(1955 paperback (reprinted 2005) ed.).
Boston
: Extending Horizons Books, Porter Sargent Publishers.
ISBN
0-87558-024-6
.
Includes Kropotkin's 1914 preface, Foreword and Bibliography by
Ashley Montagu
, and The Struggle for Existence, by
Thomas H. Huxley
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Skyrms, Brian, ed. (2014),
"Mutual aid"
,
Evolution of the Social Contract
(2 ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 43?63,
ISBN
978-1-107-07728-7
, retrieved
6 May
2024
- ^
Kinna, Ruth (24 November 2022).
Peter Kropotkin and communist anarchism
. Loughborough University.
ISBN
978-1-108-48134-2
.
- ^
a
b
Gould, Stephen Jay (June 1988).
"Kropotkin was no crackpot"
.
Natural History
. No. 106. pp. 12?21.
- ^
a
b
Boucher, Douglas H., ed. (1985). "The Idea of Mutualism, Past and Future".
The Biology of Mutualism: Ecology and Evolution
. Croom Helm. p. 17.
ISBN
9780709932383
.
- ^
Syson, Lydia (26 October 2020).
"The radical aristocrat who put kindness on a scientific footing"
.
Psyche
.
- ^
Todes, Daniel P. (1989).
Darwin Without Malthus: The Struggle for Existence in Russian Evolutionary Thought
. Oxford University Press. pp. 104, 123.
- ^
Kropotkin, Peter (1902).
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
, Chapter I
External links
[
edit
]
Wikisource
has original text related to this article: